Domingo Santa Maria

Domingo Santa Maria (4 August 1825-18 July 1889) was President of Chile from 18 September 1881 to 18 September 1886, succeeding Anibal Pinto and preceding Jose Manuel Balmaceda. He was a member of the Liberal Party of Chile.

Biography
Domingo Santa Maria was born in Santiago, Chile on 4 August 1825, and he became Intendant of Colchagua at the age of 23 and actively rigged elections in favor of the conservatives. However, he participated in the liberal revolution of 1851 and went into exile after the failure of the 1859 revolution. During the Chincha Islands War, he became a champion for "Americanism", and he was elected a Senator in 1879. In 1881, he was elected President as the Liberal Party of Chile candidate, and he managed Chile's victory over Peru and Bolivia in the War of the Pacific in 1884. He also challenged the Catholic Church by making civil marriage, civil registry, and public cemeteries matters of state instead of religion, and he oversaw increasing electoral fraud in favor of his Liberal Party. He left office in 1886 and died three years later.